1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of bottle carriers, and more specifically reuseable carriers for soft drink bottles and the like.
2. Prior Art
It has been the goal of manufacturers of bottle carriers to make carriers for beverage bottles which are simply constructed, strong, able to withstand hard usage and easily and safely cleaned. The carriers should also provide protection for the bottles contained therein against impact. Another goal, which has been difficult to attain in conjunction with those discussed above, is to provide a carrier which may be economically transported while empty from the carrier manufacturer to the bottling plant in the first instance, and from distribution centers back to the bottling plant thereafter. The weight of the carriers and the space occupied by them are the important factors in this regard.
The prior art known is as follows: U.S. Pat. No. 2,377,520 issued to Joseph Robinson, Jr. and Mark L. Seibert; U.S. Pat. No. 2,416,999 issued to Claude D. Keith and Joseph F. O'Brien; U.S. Pat. No. 2,983,406 issued to Edwin L. Arneson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,879 issued to Kashichi Hirota; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,517 issued to the present invention.
Robinson, Jr. et al. disclose a bottle carrier which is constructed from a multiplicity of pieces, with some pieces made of one material, metal, and others made of another material, Masonite board. Therefore, this carrier is difficult and expensive to manufacture. This carrier is provided with a slidably mounted handle member. With the carrier filled with bottles, the handle member can be extended past the bottle tops for carrying the carrier by hand. The handle can be collapsed to a point below the bottle tops to allow filled bottle carriers to be stacked one upon the other. However, no provision is made for stacking empty carriers, and indeed, such stacking is impossible. Because of the weight of the carriers and the volume of space they occupy, they are impracticably expensive to transport.
Keith et al. disclose a bottle carrier which similarly has a slidably mounted central partition. An upward movement permits the upper edge of the partition to serve as a handle for the carrier. The partition is provided with a handle portion and handle aperture which are readily accessible in the raised position of the partition to permit engagement by the user in carrying the carrier. A lowering movement enables the top of the partition to be lowered below the tops of the bottles so as to enable stacking of the carriers on top of each other when the same are filled with bottles. However, just as in the carrier disclosed by Robinson, Jr. et al., stacking of the carriers while they are empty is precluded, thereby making the shipment of carriers from the manufacturer to the bottling company very costly.
Arneson discloses a three piece bottle carrier formed of flexible paperboard. Because this carrier is made from paperboard, it is not susceptible to being easily cleaned and sterilized. Paperboard carriers are not very durable, particularly if they get wet, and are therefore incapable of rendering extensive use and reuse. The carrier disclosed by Arneson is in fact intended for single use. The Arneson carrier is to be shipped from the manufacturer to the bottling plant in disassembled form, in flat or folded position, to achieve economy of space. While the Arneson carrier may achieve such economy of space during shipment to the bottling plant from the manufacturer, such economy is offset by the time consumed in the complicated task of properly folding and assembling the multiple pieces of the carriers when they arrive at the bottling plant. And, like the Robinson, Jr. et al. and Keith et al. carriers, the carrier disclosed by Arneson has a slidable handle panel adapted to avoid interference with the stacking of filled carriers, but which prevents the stacking of empty carriers.
Hirota discloses a one piece, fixed body, molded plastic bottle carrier having separated compartments for receiving bottles. Such carriers are readily stacked one on the other when they are empty. The carrier disclosed by Hirota, however, provides little, if any, protection for the bottles contained therein against impact.
The carrier described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,517, issued to the inventor of the present invention, is capable of being manufactured in one piece of molded plastic. It comprises side and end walls, a central dividing member with handle means extending upwards of it, partition means which cooperate with the central dividing member to define bottle receiving cells, and a bottom support member. The bottom support member has an opening and the central dividing member and partition means have recesses for receiving the handle means of a similar empty carrier when in stacked relationship. When filled, the carrier disclosed is also stackable with other similar filled carriers. Thus, the carrier is strong, durable and capable of extensive reuse. It is stackable whether empty or full, with registration of stacked empty carriers to prevent their shifting provided by the handle members fitting within the opening and recesses of carriers above. The side and end walls of this carrier provide protection to the bottles contained therein where they are most susceptible to impact. The capacity to be registrably stacked while empty provides for great economies of space and handling in transporting the carrier from the manufacturer to the bottling plant and from distribution centers back to the bottling plant thereafter.